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The Any Questions? chairman said politicians are much better on the Radio 4 show, that is now being filmed for the internet as well, once they are out of office.

His favourite guests still in power are Kenneth Clarke (Conservative), David Laws (Lib Dem) and Lord Falconer (Labour).

“Without naming names, politicians are much better panelists when liberated from office, when they’ve gone over the top, or didn’t want to get to the top, and when you can tell they’re not borrowing words from a speak-your-weight-machine handed out by the party.”

Mr Dimbleby, 68, who spends most of the week at his farm in Devon, also spoke out against trolls on the social networking site Twitter.

“It’s disconcerting to that many people who are probably charming in person have this other side,” he said.